User:EstherEgg/Lady Parasyte

Lady Parasyte is a female fronted electronic rock band started by musician Kimberly Koppen in Chicago,IL. They are most well known for their debut EP 'Sirens' and for being one of the first acts signed to MachineKUNT Records which is run by industrial artist Experiment Haywire.

They are known for their use of mixing electro,industrial,pop and metal genres incorporating melodic and aggressive vocal styles.

History
Lady Parasyte was first formed in 2004 by Kimberly Koppen and James Vanaria who credit themselves as Lady Parasyte and birdFEEDER respectively. The two began creating music in their spare time. For many years the tracks that were created were only released through their myspace page.

The project was often viewed as a solo project even though at the time it was in fact a duo.

In 2005 Koppen joined the band SickNewMonster with Edith Blade member Michael Vaillancourt. She only contributed to one track entitled 'Fire'before leaving the band and returning to work on Lady Parasyte. She also contributed vocals to albums by Die Warzau and techno DJ Alan D. Oldham.

Periodically new music was added to the bands official myspace page with advertisements promoting the soon to be released full length 'Abandoned Places'. However, it wasn't until Feburary 2009 that the band released a hard copy disc which ended up being 'The Sirens EP'. Koppen stated that,"Initially there wasn't going to be an EP. I had planned on releasing a full length as soon a I could. However, we were approached to play live shows and it became a matter of having something available for people. So the Sirens EP is a combination of a few older tracks as well as some made specifically for the EP.".

The bands first live gig was as an opener for the industrial group Funker Vogt in 2008. The band followed up with multiple gigs in the Chicago area. The live band consisted of Koppen,Vanaria,Angela Schaub,Alan D. Oldham and guitarist InkyDust.

After the release of 'Sirens' the band was approached by Rachel Haywire (of Experiment Haywire) to be signed to the political/feminist MachineKUNT Records though the band themselves do not advertise themselves as overtly political or feminist. At this time Vanaria chose to leave the band to pursue work on his previous band 'Essensa'. Both Oldham and Inkydust followed to pursue their personal musical projects. Only the bands two vocalists Koppen and Schaub remained.

After producer/programmer/guitarist Mark Black joined the band they began work on the full-length album 'Abandoned Places'to be released on MachineKUNT in 2010.

Critical Response
The critical response overall has been fairly positive. Regen Magazine was quoted as stating,"Sirens contains six haunting tracks that refuse to be the same generic sound being put out by many electro artists." Macabre Cadaver Magazine praised it's lyrical content by stating,"We’re not talking about your typical club lyrics, meaningless and void of any thought provoking subjects; we are talking about well thought out lyrical combination's that leave the listener doing that; actually listening."

Discography
The Sirens EP - Self-Release,2009 Abandoned Places - MachineKUNT,2010